Topic
Israel
Strengthening EU-Israel Ties and Working towards a Negotiated Two-State Solution.
The AJC Transatlantic Institute is a firm proponent of strengthening the EU-Israel relationship, which is based on shared democratic values, interests and history. Israel’s unique expertise in areas ranging from counter-terrorism to cybersecurity and high-tech to entrepreneurship reinforce the need for an even deeper, strategic EU-Israel partnership.
While AJC has long advocated for a negotiated two-state solution to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, progress in the peace process doesn’t depend on Israel alone and thus shouldn’t be a precondition to deepening the mutually beneficial EU-Israel relationship.
We seek to inform the policy debate in Brussels on EU-Israel ties, the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Jewish state’s place in the world.
AJC's Project Interchange
Through AJC’s Project Interchange, we organize for European policy-makers, diplomats and opinion leaders week-long seminars to Israel and the Palestinian territories to experience first-hand the complexities on the ground.
⇨ Learn more about AJC’s Project Interchange
Related events
Media
Israel’s Security and Political Challenges Under the New Government
On 12 June 2021, Naftali Bennett, leader of Israel’s New Right party, was sworn in as Prime Minister as part of a rotation agreement with Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party. The unprecedented coalition holds only a wafer-thin majority and brings together political parties with vast ideological differences, including for the first time an Arab party. MEP Lukas Mandl, Lahav Harkov, Jerusalem Post Senior Contributing Editor and Diplomatic Correspondent, Daniel Schwammenthal, AJC Transatlantic Institute Director, and Roland Freudenstein, Wilfried Martens Centre Policy Director discussed how the new government will address domestic issues and foreign affairs.
European Commission President Vows to Strengthen Ties with Israel and Fight Antisemitism at AJC Global Forum
Addressing thousands of participants worldwide at AJC Global Forum 2021, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pledged to strengthen ties with Israel, “a vitally important country for the European Union, not only because of our common past, but also because of our common future,” and underlined the EU’s commitment to fight rising antisemitism across the continent.
French President Macron Pledges Commitment to Israel’s Security and Fight against Anti-Jewish Hatred at AJC Global Forum
"France's profound attachment to Israel's security [...] has never wavered," declared French President Emmanuel Macron to an international audience at AJC Global Forum 2021. Stressing France’s adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism in December 2019, President Macron reiterated his commitment to combat hatred and extremism across the country.
UAE Foreign Minister Discusses UAE-Israel Ties, Peace in the Middle East
In a landmark conversation during AJC Global Forum 2021, H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the United Arab Emirates, discussed the momentum brought by the normalization of UAE-Israel ties, the spread of peace across the Middle East, AJC’s newest office in Abu Dhabi, and more with AJC Chief Policy and Political Affairs Officer Jason Isaacson.
TFI Chair Mandl: Israel Defends Itself and Civilizational Values
Brussels, 18 May 2021 - “Heavily-armed terror organizations unscrupulously fire rockets at civilian residential areas. Children, women and men are traumatized by this rocket fire and other acts of terror and are ultimately the victims of these terrorists,” says Lukas Mandl, speaker on foreign...
Gaza Media Rules
Rule Number 1: Don’t report the facts. In this must-read satire column for New Europe, Daniel Schwammenthal, Director of the AJC Transatlantic Institute, offers a 10-point reporter’s guide for gullible journalists who are covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and want to demonstrate that they don’t know what they’re talking about.
Hamas Is Dedicated to Killing Jews
Some have attempted to apply logic to the onslaught of rockets fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip. But in this Newsweek op-ed, Avi Mayer, AJC Managing Director of Global Communications, explains that this conflict is about Hamas and its dedication, in word and deed, to destroying the Jewish state and murdering Jews.
AJC Joins European and North American Lawmakers in Affirming Support for Israel
13 May 2021 - Brussels – The AJC Transatlantic Institute hailed the outpour of support for Israel in a statement signed by over 50 European and North American lawmakers from 20 countries in response to indiscriminate rocket attacks against Israeli civilians by Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The...
Israel and Gaza: Moral Clarity, Moral Fog
In this forceful column for The Times of Israel, AJC CEO David Harris issues a powerful call for moral clarity. “Hamas celebrates death, something too few outside observers can truly understand,” he writes. “Israel celebrates life... And it is determined to defend life — as it should, as it must.”
HRW Defames Israel - AJC Reacts
Last week Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Israel of pursuing a policy of “apartheid and persecution.” AJC Director for Diplomatic Affairs Aaron Jacob exposes the HRW report’s most glaring biases, including the organization’s attempt to portray the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as racial in nature when, in fact, it is “a political conflict between two peoples with competing national goals – and should be addressed as such. Attempts to transform it into a racial or religious conflict make it much more difficult to resolve. By embracing the two-state solution and making generous peace overtures, Israel has made it abundantly clear that it does not want to rule the Palestinians.”